Jack Reed: “I would ask that you look closely at this item.”

His administration removed Nicolás Maduro from power, threw its weight behind the unelected leadership that replaced Maduro, and is now attempting to use U.S. military assets and taxpayer-backed financing to boost a private oil venture.

President Trump’s effort to turn the U.S. military into an investor in Venezuelan oil is a blatant abuse of power and taxpayer dollars.

President Trump has been explicit about his desire to extract Venezuela's oil," Reed said in a statement.

When President Trump cuts military exercises to flatter a dictator or punishes South Korea for declining to join a war he started, all of our allies – and adversaries – think that America’s commitments are negotiable.